The West Pier Trust, established 1978

Please note that this text is an extract from a reference work written in 1990.  As a result, some of the content may not reflect recent research, changes and events.

d) RENEWED HOPE: After several abortive plans for renovation, the West Pier Trust, a registered charity established in 1978, was given the sole right to operate the pier by Act of Parliament, while the government recognised the pier’s merit by changing its listing from grade II* to grade I in November 1982, the only pier to be so highly graded. In 1984 a kiosk fell into the sea, but on 23 August of the same year the West Pier Trust purchased the pier for just £100 when the Crown Estate Commissioners were satisfied that sufficient resources were available to prevent the structure becoming dangerous. Emergency works, at a cost of £55,000, were undertaken at the seaward end to prevent a collapse, and in July 1985 the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission announced a grant of £200,000, conditional on the council matching it, with a further £300,000 in the future. The National Heritage Memorial Fund then offered an unconditional £100,000, and in October 1985 the council agreed to match the former grant from the reserve fund set up in 1977, thereby wiping out the Trust’s overdraft. Further grants from English Heritage and the National Heritage Memorial Fund were forthcoming in August 1988.
In November 1988 Merlin International Ltd announced a £30 million rebuilding scheme for the pier, including an extra floor for the theatre and a new Victorian-style pavilion at the shore end. Although controversial because of the scale of the rebuilding, the plan was approved by the West Pier Trust but led to the withdrawal of the English Heritage grants. The fate of the West Pier still hangs in the balance, but essential restoration began in August 1986 and the first small section of decking was reopened on 15 September 1987 after twelve years of closure. The section over the Lower Esplanade has been removed and in March 1988 a further section of the decking was demolished to prevent further damage. Nevertheless, the intervention of Merlin has led to the best hope yet of renovation, albeit in a modified form.

Any numerical cross-references in the text above refer to resources in the Sources and Bibliography section of the Encyclopaedia of Brighton by Tim Carder

Comments about this page

  • The West Pier Trust must be the most untrustworthy trust ever entrusted with our trust. It achieved nothing.

    By Renia Simmonds (24/05/2013)

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